Rheem water heaters...wtf?

About a month and a half ago my Rheem water heater went out. I called the Rheem customer service and they told me to do a reset. Basically they told me to turn it off for ten seconds made sure the switch was off and the temp was on the vacation setting. Plug the power back in, turn the vent on, turn the switch on and cycle the temp switch from vacation to 120 degrees back and forth about 6 times ending it with 120degrees and should turn on....still nothing happend. They sent me a part they said they overnighted but it took till wednesday. When we received the part the plumber installed it and all was ok....until now.

Now the same thing is happening, it hasn't even been 2 months! So i call customer service and they have me perform the same reset procedures, which i think is a big joke because it didn't do a thing for me. Then they had the nerve to tell us it was our fault becasue they said, without even checking our garage, that we store flammables near the surrounding area or even in the garage. Now this started to irratate me. I check the garage for any flammables and found none. I opened the garage door to let it vent and tried the reset procedures again and still didn't work. I called Rheem again and they told me they are sending a mother board via overnight. Well it is 4:45pm Las Vegas time and still no part. I called them at about 9:30am the previous day.

I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO!!! I have two kids and an angry wife who can't take a nice hot/warm shower and I need to fix this thing.

****Is there anything i can do to fix this thing without waiting for the part to arrive?**** This SUCKS!

I bet a dollar to a donut it is the flammable vapor sensor (FVS) that is crapping out. I had one that was intermittent, turned out the blade connectors that went to this FVS unit where loose. I changed them out and the home owner has had hot water since.

Attached Files:

About a month and a half ago my Rheem water heater went out.
They sent me a part they said they overnighted but it took till wednesday. When we received the part the plumber installed it and all was ok....until now.

Now the same thing is happening, it hasn't even been 2 months!
****Is there anything i can do to fix this thing without waiting for the part to arrive?**** This SUCKS!

Maybe there is an as-yet-undiscovered root cause that is overstressing this sensor or the sensor circuitry, if that's what it is.
Post a schematic if you have one.
Rheem might have a Technical Service Bulletin out on the rate of False Positives for this sensor; if you can get past the receptionist any factory engineer can probably advise you on this (at risk to his job).
Or ask eric.boggs@emerson.com
from the article above.